SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Playing in their final non-conference matchup of the season, the UC Santa Barbara softball team dropped a 4-1 decision on the road against the University of San Diego at the USD Softball Complex on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the third meeting of the season between these two evenly matched teams, the first two of which went extra innings at the Gaucho Classic I with the teams splitting the pair.

In Wednesday's rubber match, San Diego took an early lead behind a solo homerun in the second inning, followed by a pair of runs in the third, courtesy of a leadoff triple and two errors in the frame from UCSB.

The Toreros tacked on another run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.

The Gauchos broke through in the fifth inning after Sammy Fabian walked with one out and came around to score on an Alyssa Diaz RBI single to center. Back-to-back fly outs ended a chance for a rally in the inning.

Rayna Cohen went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the Gauchos, who finished with five hits in the game along with San Diego. Diaz, Alyssa Lazatin and Maci Fines provided the other hits in the game for UCSB.

Coming off a strong performance last weekend, freshman Emily Schuttish was tagged with the first loss of her career despite allowing just one earned run on three hits in two innings pitched. Felisha Noriega and Veronika Gulvin also pitched in relief.

UCSB (13-20) opens Big West competition on the road this weekend at defending champion Cal State Fullerton, with the series beginning on Friday, Mar. 30 at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader, which begins at 2:00 p.m., will air on ESPN3.